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From the Iowa DNR website:
Lake Icaria Recognized For Restoration Efforts
ADAMS COUNTY - Ten years after being placed on Iowa's 2008 Section 303(d) list of impaired waters, Lake Icaria's water quality has improved so much that the DNR recommends the lake be removed from the list.
The DNR placed the Adams County lake on Iowa's impaired waters list in 1998 after sediment loads began severely affecting water quality and aquatic life.
"The lake and watershed had been taken for granted, which had resulted in poor water quality conditions with poor fishing," said former Lake Icaria Watershed Project Coordinator Bob Waters.
Between 1996 and 2005, the watershed project - funded by state and federal agencies - worked with local landowners to reduce soil erosion by installing grade stabilization structures, terraces and filter strips. Most significant was the construction of a wetland along Lake Icaria's largest tributary as the last line of defense for trapping sediment and nutrients.
Inlake efforts to improve water quality included stabilizing more than 10,000 feet of eroded shoreline and removing carp from the lake.
Adding to this accomplishment, Lake Icaria is now the third lake in Iowa to have a success story featured on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Section 319 Nonpoint Source Success Stories website.
"This is a big deal, since Iowa now has three of only 68 success stories nationwide approved by the EPA," said Steve Hopkins, DNR nonpoint source program coordinator. The other two Iowa success stories occurred in Nine Eagles Lake and Slip Bluff Lake.
"It is very exciting to see these repeated successes," said Richard Leopold, director of the DNR. "It demonstrates what can be accomplished when federal, state and local groups focus on a goal. These investments will benefit local communities and the state for generations."
The EPA Section 319 Nonpoint Source Success Stories website features stories highlighting impaired water bodies where restoration efforts have resulted in significant water quality improvements.
"I can't tell you how rewarding it is to go to Lake Icaria now and see people enjoying it in so many ways, and to reminisce about all of the great people that helped make it happen," said Waters.
Iowa's Publicly Owned Lakes Fund, Iowa's Water Protection and Watershed Protection Funds and the Clean Water Act section 319 Fund, among others, contributed to the project's overall success.
To read about Lake Icaria's restoration, as well as other Section 319 Nonpoint Source Success stories, visit http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/Success319/
Writer: Elise Taylor